Support for disabled children and their families
Supporting families through advice, information and practical help
Pears Foundation’s support for Contact transforms the lives of families with disabled children. Core funding helps to underpin all areas of our work, providing the flexibility to innovate, to quickly respond to families’ changing needs, and to ensure Contact is here to support families long into the future. Additionally Pears Foundation has partnered with Contact to provide targeted support programmes. We feel very fortunate to have such an engaged, committed and forward-thinking partner in Pears Foundation.Anna Bird, Chief Executive
Contact
Families raising a disabled child often face challenges that extend far beyond their child’s disability. Alongside caring responsibilities, many must navigate complex education, health and social care systems, manage significant financial pressures and advocate for the support their child needs. Their needs are interconnected, and no single organisation or intervention can address them all.
Pears Foundation believes that supporting these families requires a long-term, responsive and flexible approach. We provide long-term, often unrestricted, funding to organisations that address different aspects of family life, from trusted advice and financial support to specialist services, opportunities for children and young people, and system change. This gives our partners the stability to respond to families’ changing needs, adapt as circumstances evolve and continue providing support where it is needed most.
Advice and information
Accessing the right support can be complex and overwhelming for families. We support organisations that provide trusted information and expert advice, helping parents understand their rights, navigate services and secure the support their children are entitled to.
Our partners include Contact, which provides information, advice and family support; IPSEA, which helps families secure appropriate education for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which supports families of children with severe learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges.
Financial resilience
Families with disabled children are significantly more likely to experience financial hardship because of the additional costs of disability and the impact caring responsibilities can have on employment and family income. We support organisations that help families manage these pressures, providing both immediate assistance and longer-term financial support.
Our partners include the Family Fund, which helps families on low incomes meet the additional costs of raising a disabled child, and Turn2us, which provides practical information, grants and financial support to people experiencing hardship.
Supporting the whole family
The impact of disability extends across the whole family. We fund organisations that recognise the importance of supporting parents, carers and siblings, helping families build resilience and ensuring that everyone has the support they need.
Our partner Sibs provides information, advice and peer support for brothers and sisters of disabled children and adults, recognising the important role siblings play throughout family life.
Opportunities for children and young people
We also support organisations that help disabled children and young people develop their confidence, communication and independence, enabling them to participate more fully in their communities.
Our partners include Sense, which provides specialist support for people with complex disabilities; Mencap, which helps people with a learning disability live full and active lives; and Bag Books, whose multi-sensory books enable people with profound learning disabilities to experience the enjoyment of stories.
Influencing change
Alongside supporting individual families, we invest in organisations working to improve the wider system. Many of the organisations we support also use their knowledge and experience to influence policy and improve services for families.
In addition, the Disabled Children’s Partnership brings together more than 130 organisations to campaign for better support and services for disabled children and their families, helping to ensure that their experiences shape public policy and decision-making. We also support the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance, run by Speech and Language UK, which brings together organisations to advocate for children and young people with speech and language challenges.
Together, these partnerships reflect our belief that families raising a disabled child deserve support that responds to the complexity of their lives. By providing long-term, flexible funding across a diverse range of organisations, we help ensure that families can rely on a network of support throughout their journey, while contributing to stronger services and systems for the future.